How To Take Control of the troubled waters in Jammu & Kashmir? - IT Manager's Views

Disclaimer - I am an information technology architect (aka Digital Technology Architect) and this post is not about technology! We technology managers in IT encounter most tough and dynamic challenges of project management. Industry veterans will tell you that IT is one industry where expectation is to deliver most of the deliverables as of 'yesterday'! Yesterday is a way of speak and nothings gets delivered yesterday but IT managers often have to plan delivery with a very aggressive target date with an imaginary start date in the 'Past'!

                                           I don't have experience of working with Indian government but when I see politicians complicate simple problems by not following principles of management I am often tempted to work in government for few years. If today's politicians were in IT industry none of them would last in their job for more than a month! Imagine a minster who is elected for 5 years talking about target delivery date 15 years into future! Dude, Which management institute did you graduate from?

     Governance in any sector, at any level and in any situation requires the leader to analyze the problem, plan a solution with clearly defined target and time lines, highlight the risks  and get it reviewed before implementing it and finally be accountable for the outcome. A manger of a small company, a general in the army, a CEO of a large corporation and top executive of governments follow the same basic principles of governance. Does not matter if you are graduate from Wharton or if you picked management skills on the job your success and failure as a manager depends on how well you are able to implement the core principles of governance.  My father is a management guru and my management training started early in life when I was in school. I started observing how my dad managed thousands of  employee, a mix of laborer, engineer, chartered accountants and doctors. My father sometimes allowed me to accompany him to office and sit in the conference room where he conducted management trainings. I learned that good managers never stop learning, good managers attend trainings conducted by junior employees, not always to learn something new but to promote the culture of learning from each other. I observed that my father was most happy when he know all his employees were happy and he was disturbed when even one employee or employee’s family member was facing trouble. I realized that there are no working hours for a manager. As the top boss you have to be there for your team, your employees 24/7  all days of the year. I realized that many times a manager’s family has to take a back seat because your team comes first.  I also came to know that if you are a good manager the genuine feedback should also come from the families of the employee because that reflects the state of  your employee’s family. When the employee is happy and content Manager can see the reflection in face of his family members.

                                I want to talk about governance of #Jammu&Kashmir because for years I have wondered why a state like #Jammu&Kashmir has to continue to suffer when they religiously vote to elect their government which they expect to improve their living conditions but nothing changes. The difference between a company and country is that country allows you to choose your manager and that’s amazing power in hand of the people.  It also means additional responsibility for the manager because he does not get the post because of his education but because of the trust of the people. I fail to understand why Chief Ministers and Prime Ministers do not understand that they are being promoted directly to the top job by the people and it is their solemn responsibility to ensure well being of each and every citizen with uttermost commitment. The other advantage a elected leader has is to select his own team of best people to ensure good governance, something that is not always possible for a manager governing a company. 

                         It is a privilege and honor to manage the country and states of India. A Prime Minster has the luxury to pick his team of ministers (even if they have lost the election!), pick best experts from the market, he has power to manage finances & he does not have to report to a supervisor for 5 years. Which means PM has the luxury to plan well, set his own timelines and implement all that he has promised to the voters. Sadly I do not see political leaders use this opportunity to deliver their promises made to the people.  Possibly because some promises were made only to get votes and others fail because of lack of vision and planning. A state is a big company with interests across vast variety of subjects ranging from infrastructure, social welfare, industrialization, job creation, tourism, health, law and security. Every state has unique requirements and a political leader is fully aware of what are the priorities for the state. We are familiar with 5 year and 10 year programs run by governments which I would assume were fairly successful in delivering a large portion of the desired outcome. Lately we see political leaders talking about plans for 2022, 2050 , Gandhiji's 125th Birth anniversary and what not. I fail to understand how a government elected for 5 yrs can can align its vision with some leaders birth centenary without a plan and resources to implement the plan. In last 20 years I have seen many  things being promised to people of #Jammu&Kashmir and hardly 1% of the promises were delivered. 

                                        As a manager when I am handed a project my work starts with reviewing the project and creating a list of things that are going well and things that are not going well. We need to keep improving on the initiatives that are doing well and use the learning to implement the plans in areas where the project is not doing well. I would identify the processes that are not giving results and scrap them and setup processes that can give  measurable results and ensure a transparent monitoring.  I do not see that happening in #Jammu&Kashmir and so I thought of analyzing what could be going wrong and what should be done to correct it. At the first glance you realize that the state management has been totally ineffective in delivering results. In a company when this happens a senior executive is sent to take charge of the situation and guide the lower managers to start delivering. We do not wait for the officers to retire so that next batch of officers would  deliver result so why not follow the same process for #Jammu&Kashmir? From media interviews, social-media comments and Kasmiri's working in my city I realized that people seem to have lost faith in the local leaders and their expectations are continuously being marred by the performance of the state leaders. A state that is being terrorized by agents across the border where security personals are being abducted and killed is very unnerving & unsettling for any common man. In such a situation the Prime Minister who is also the CEO of the country should have realized that he does not have the required skill in his #J&K team and it is time that he should roll-up his sleeves and take steps to build the confidence of J&K people. The constitution did not define boundaries for the Prime Minister and there is no protocol that stops the Prime Minster from visiting the state of #Jammu&Kashmir every week for next 8 to 10 weeks to personally supervise the efforts of his team, meet the citizen, understand their concerns, meet the families of the victims and assure them that they are as important to him as any person sitting in Delhi or Mumbai. Gradually as things improve and Kashmiri's  gain confidence in their Prime Minster and their country he can reduce his visits to once a month for next 12 months and so on. We in-fact see that the CEO has forgotten all the promises he made to the share-holders/voters of his country. By delegating the tasks to subordinates a CEO of the company cannot shun the responsibility bestowed upon him

      So here is my advice to the Prime Minister so that he can plan better and get the state  of #Jammu&Kashmir to normalcy ASAP.    

     1) Be on the ground zero - When things are going wrong whats most critical is for the team to see their leader standing with them shoulder to shoulder. CEO's cannot run troubled companies by sitting in AC offices and delegating work when there is a crisis. Right now the Indian citizen is J&K is scared. He is like a kid lost in the jungle and needs his family to hold his hand and assure him. I do not see the Hon Prime Minister reaching out to hold hands of the common man. You don't have to celebrate Diwali with the soldiers because soldiers are trained to take the pressure. You will have to spend Diwali, Id, Baisakhi and X'mas with the common man of J&K. When the son gets martyred and the father has his Prime Minsters shoulder to cry on and his country's assurance that he will be taken care of in his old age the father will gladly send his other son/daughter to lay their life for the country. So I request you to start going to different cities of J&K every week to supervise your plans and start confidence building measure Mr Prime Minister because your ministers can live without saluting you for one day a week and the rupee will not fall any lower.

    2) Create a list of whats working and what's not working -  India's Kashmir policy has not succeeded but is not a total failure - for that matter no policy can be a total failure. There are degrees of success and failures in any organization. There are things that are going well an there are things that are failing in J&K. You have to manage your limited resources to fix the things that are not going well and we do not seem to be doing that. We look at J&k and we speak of J&K as a single problem which it is not. How do you account for success of security forces, success of individual sports persons at international level, varying terrorist activities across the state & success of plans in some areas of the state? A what's working/not-working list is a statement of assertive planning. It shows your willingness to accept failure and introspect. It also means learning from success of one scheme and implementing key learning's to other areas and I hope the state will do it. 

  3) Vision & Plan - So whats the short term vision for next 6 & 12 months for #Jammu&Kashmir? Are we going to take militancy as it comes? In a company when we work on product that has major issues all across we conduct a review, break down the problem into smaller problem,  make small teams to attack each problem and a senior person works with each team to create a plan of action that gets monitored daily till we achieve the end result.  Or are you flying a plane without a flight plan? That's bloody dangerous because you have limited fuel and you will eventually crash land if your destination and flight plan are not decided. So please create a vision along with experts and tell every member of your cabinet about your vision. Work with them to create sort and long term plans and ask the ministers to dream of their plan every night and work on it everyday till we achieve our vision. The current state of affairs in #J&K demand daily monitoring of progress of you plan an in-charge and at least weekly monitoring by PM himself.  Are you following AVPMA for #J&K (analyze-visualize-plan-monitor-act-repeat) Mr Prime Minister? I think you have left everything to army and governor and under crisis this will not work. It requires the experience and stakes of CEO to revive a sick company.

4)  Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam - Kashmiri's have been living an alien life for decades. When did a Kashmiri interact with his brothers in other states of India? His brothers who live peacefully, brothers who don't worry about terrorist attacks and their daughters can party alone at night and return home safely. If it can happen in Mumbai why not in Shrinagar or Kupwara ? Let the government start exchange of students and citizen. Let the Kasmiri's see what they are missing in their life, let them experience the effervescence of our beautiful  democracy. We the tax payers will gladly pay higher tax for such initiatives that will unite us even further. Forget the bullet train Mr Prime Minister lets use the 1000Cr loan to invest in the concept of #India. If there is peace we will build 1000 bullet trains across India and that too without charity of Japanese. Let the Kashmiri's know that some Hindu/Muslim/Sikh/Christian sitting in Kodaikanal, Mumbai or Boddhgaya cares for him and will gladly break bread with him. Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam should start with brotherhood in India and the world will follow later. 

5)  Heal the scarred - What are we doing for families of those who have been martyred by terrorism? We don't see govt taking any special efforts for rehabilitation. Terrorism is India's problem and not just J&K's problem. When you have cancer you need holistic healing of the body, you don't neglect the cancer affected part because it is malignant. What are the special efforts done to reach out to the families, to provide for them, to ensure that they get support in return of the sacrifice of their family member. The citizen of J&K is facing unprecedented circumstances and need innovative healing approach. Some NGO's are doing their bit but Indian government which usually is not in business of healing & rehabilitation will have to take unparalleled steps to bring normalcy to these scarred families. You wanted people to support #SwacchBharat, we will take 4 steps to support your initiative for #RehabilitationJammu&Kashmir but you will have to tell us your plan and we will do out bit to support the implementation. Mr Prime Minister country is looking at you because you are our leader and people expect you to guide them. 

6) Politics & Controversies - We are used to wild statement and controversies by politicians but J&K is not the play field for political games. Giving religious color to a heinous crime does not solve any issue as you are well aware and yet you have avoided restraining and reprimanding your leaders. It is your responsibility as the PM to ensure that every leader of your party to speak responsibly and display mature and responsible conduct. We Indian's are a matured community, much more sensible and sensitive then most of the western world yet our politicians are the most irresponsible politicians in the world. As a Prime Minister whenever you have given a positive call every Indian has supported you and will continue to support you. What is disappointing is to see that the most powerful man, the Prime Minister is not able to control the political leaders of his party and other parties. #MaanKiBaat is a failed one way street where you talk about your govt instead of addressing people's problems and that's why nobody listens to it and I wish you had realized it by now. There  should be a channel called #Jammu&KashmirKeMaanKiBaat where people can call in and entire India can listen to their grievances and your response. Do you think you can control political leaders Mr Prime Minister?

7) Jobs and livelihood - It is well known fact that unemployment and poverty lead to criminal tendencies and religious extremism. What has the government done to create job opportunities in #Jammu&Kashmir? How many of the 100 new mobile factories are setup in J&K? How many food processing units have been setup in J&K? What are we doing to promote travel to J&K? Mr Prime Minister we cannot wait to curb terrorism before we start promoting tourism.  The disillusioned youth who are throwing stones for paltry sum of 500Rs is indicator of the poverty in J&K. Are you aware of any other city in India where youth are ready to fight their own army and sacrifice their eye and life for 500Rs? Sir, the situation is grim and we have not acted to provide jobs to people of J&K. You have the  power to instruct companies to invest in J&K , you have the power to implement new schemes under president rule. Will you use your powers to bring the change Mr Prime Minister? The soldier is prepared for the battle but the Kashmiri has been pushed into the battlefield along with his wife and kids without any training to defend himself. I could see the tears and anger in the eyes of Aurangzeb's father and I did not see any disappointment in his eyes  because he still had faith in his country, his people and his Prime Minister. Will you fly to J&K and hold his hand and hand of other families Mr Prime Minister. 

      I have read in history books that a small army took on a mighty enemy and were winning the battle until they came to know that their Senapati, their General had run away. Suddenly they were demoralized, they lost the courage and will and they lost the battle they were winning. History remembers the brave and their sacrifices, even fragile looking men like Lal Bahadur Shastri are heroes because they humility & they were brave when it mattered. Do you have the courage and commitment to take feedback, introspect and change your ways Mr Prime Minister? Will you put the country and Indian's ahead of your ego Mr Prime Minister? OR will we all lose the battle to ego's of politicians?